
The American Lung Association (ALA) is reminding physicians and families alike to prepare for successful back-to-school asthma management.
Most children who have asthma develop their first symptoms before age five. Once a child has been diagnosed, it’s important for physicians, parents and schools to work together to manage a student’s symptoms and reduce the potential for exacerbations.
Below is a summary of the ALA’s annual Asthma at School Checklist, an essential guide for the 2024–2025 school year:
- Encourage and remind families about scheduling an office visit before school starts to assess a student’s asthma needs. This is also a good time to confirm that a student is up to date with vaccines that help prevent respiratory infections, including COVID-19, influenza (flu), pneumonia and pertussis (whooping cough).
- Create or review the student’s Asthma Action Plan so that families can share the plan with school officials.
- Encourage families to share and sign essential forms with school officials that identify a student’s asthma diagnosis, medicine and permission for the school to provide a student with life-saving medicine.
- Remind families to mark all asthma medicines that they plan to send to school with the child's name and include instructions on how the medicine should be used.
- Help patients who are heading to college prepare to manage their asthma and make smart health care decisions with these tips. This includes teaching them about common asthma triggers often hiding in college dorm rooms and how to avoid them.
- Talk to families and adolescent patients about the dangers of smoking and vaping.